Verse 11 says that we have been made an inheritance according to the purpose of the One who operates all things. God operates all things according to the counsel of His will. There is a difference between God’s will and His counsel: the will refers to His intention, and the counsel, to the consideration. God operates all things according to the consideration of His intention. His operation is mainly concerned with us; His intention regarding us is to make us His inheritance. In His counsel He considers how to accomplish this; He does not do it without careful consideration. For example, a sister may have the intention to bake a very special cake. But before baking it, she takes counsel with herself to consider how she should go about it. Without such consideration, the cake would be ruined in the process of baking. Likewise, God is making us an inheritance to Himself in a very thoughtful, careful way.
God operates all things according to the counsel of His will that we should be to the praise of His glory. This indicates that God is doing the finest work with us. No crude work will bring forth praise or appreciation. It is the finest work that causes the highest appreciation, out of which comes the highest praise. Because God is working on us in the finest way, we shall be the cause of the greatest appreciation.
In the Lord’s recovery we do not care only for the ground of unity. We are here for God’s finer work. Among all of today’s Christian groups, it is hard to find one group in which God can do a finer work. Probably we are the only group of Christians on earth who give God the opportunity to do a finer work in them. Therefore, in the Lord’s recovery we are held responsible to afford the Lord the opportunity to do this finer work upon us. We do not want to be shallow or to have a movement that is temporary. Instead, we want to cooperate with God that He may come in to do a fine work among us to bring forth the highest appreciation in the universe. Then whenever the angels look at us, they will appreciate what God has done and utter praise to the very God expressed by us. God’s work upon us is not simply to improve our behavior or to make us more loving and humble. Such a concept is too low. We need to allow God to work Himself into our being, to transform every part of us. This will be the finest product in the universe, a product full of God and full of the divine essence. In this way such a fine work will be highly appreciated by the angels and by all positive things; they will then praise God for the glory of His grace.
The word “to” in verse 12 is a rather insignificant word in English, but it is a strong word in Greek. It may be translated “issuing in.” This indicates that some kind of appreciation and praise will be brought forth because of us. We shall be the cause of the angelic praise. When the angels look at us, they will appreciate us. However, we have not yet fully reached this point. We need to go on until we, the New Testament believers, become the cause of the universal angelic praise of the glory of God.
Verse 12 says that we “have before hoped in Christ.” The Greek word translated “before” can also be rendered “first.” We, the believers of the New Testament, are those who have first hoped in Christ; that is, we have hoped in Him in this age. The Jews will have their hope in Christ in the next age. Today we have hoped in Christ, but the Jews, who have not, are in a pitiful condition.
We have hoped in Christ before Christ’s coming back to set up His Messianic kingdom. But the Jews will have hope in Christ after His coming back. Because we are full of hope in Christ, we can be made the cause of the universal and angelic praise of God’s glory.
Finally, we shall be to the praise of God’s glory. As we have seen, God is glorified, expressed, in the New Testament believers. This expression is not visible today, but one day it will be visible. At that time God’s expression through the New Testament believers will call forth the universal praise. Our God will be fully expressed and glorified through us and among us. Then the entire universe will praise His glory.